Patrick Tatopoulos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patrick Tatopoulos is a renowned French-Greek production designer, who lives and works in the United States. He is considered by many as a visionary[1], creating innovative, exciting concepts for filmed and computer generated environments. His unique designs, rich with mood, character and distinction, have appeared in numerous box office hit motion pictures, including such movies as Underworld, I, Robot, The Chronicles of Riddick, Independence Day, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Stargate, Godzilla, Stuart Little, and I Am Legend.
[edit] Biography
Tatopoulos was born and raised in Paris, France, to an immigrant father from Macedonia, Greece, and a French mother [2]. His parents had a clothing store in Paris. Patrick Tatopoulos raced motorcycles, worked in 2-D advertising and drew comic book covers. He lived in Greece for ten years before coming to the United States in 1989. He is tri-lingual, speaking fluently French, Greek and English. In Greece, while working as a designer artist in the production of commercials, he was continually fascinated by creatures and special effects.[3] He studied at the École d'Art Décoratif de Paris, the École des Arts Appliqués de Paris, and the École des Beaux-Arts[2].From Paris he moved to Rome and Greece where he began selling his illustrations. Eventually, his passion for the entertainment business drew him to the United States and within a short time became a designer for commercials, music video and motion pictures. Tatopoulos is a frequent collaborator of directors Roland Emmerich and Alex Proyas.
In May 2000, Tatopoulos was honored by The Hellenic Times at its ninth annual Scholarship Gala in New York. The goal of the organization is to identify young American scholars who best exemplify the values of their Greek heritage and provide them with educational support. A Patrick Tatopoulos Creative Arts Award Scholarship was created in 2001 and Tatopoulos has personally presented the scholarship, in his name, to a deserving student in 2001 and 2002.[4] He owns Tatopoulos Studios, Inc. and Patrick Tatopoulos Designs, Inc.
The character of Niko Tatopoulos in Godzilla was named after his youngest daughter.
